Wednesday, January 14, 2015

"Former University of Memphis place-kicker Joe Allison
enjoyed a record-setting career and a brilliant season in 1992, but he
never dreamed that, in doing so, he would receive the Lou Groza Award,
which is presented to the nation's top college kicker. Allison, a native of Atlanta, Ga., led the nation in
field goals per game, average field goals made per game, and
kick-scoring for the final nine weeks of the 1992 season. His 23-of-25
field goals made were the most in the nation, according to the NCAA, and
his 92.0 percent made rated best among all kickers for the year.

'I did not know about the Lou Groza Award until we
played Tulsa in late October,' said Allison. 'After the game, Bob Winn
(Assistant Athletic Director/Communications) came up to me in the locker
room and said that I was a candidate for the award. I didn't even know
who Lou Groza was at the time. 'As soon as we returned to campus, I looked up Mr.
Groza's statistics in the NFL record book, and I talked to Coach
Armstrong (UM kicking coach) about his career with the Cleveland
Browns.' Allison continued on his torrid streak of field goals
made throughout the remainder of the `92 season. Week after week, his
name appeared at the top of the NCAA statistics for kickers and a
campaign was started to let sports writers and voters throughout the
country know about Allison's feats....

Following the Thanksgiving holiday, Allison suffered
an attack of appendicitis and had an emergency appendectomy. The surgery
kept Allison from traveling to Hollywood, Calif., to appear on the Bob
Hope Christmas Special, and it was while he was in the hospital
recovering from his surgery that Allison learned that he had won the Lou
Groza Award. 'Mr. Winn called and told me that I had won the award
and it made me feel a whole lot better,' Allison stated. 'I was
determined that I was going to get well and travel to Florida for the
awards ceremony.' Allison did indeed recover from his surgery and, with
the assistance of former head coach Chuck Stobart and kicking coach
Murray Armstrong, traveled to West Palm Beach, Fla., to receive the
first national award ever won by a Memphis player. The December 10th program was emceed by ABC
sportscaster Curt Gowdy, and Baylor University head coach Grant Teaff
was the guest speaker. In accepting the Lou Groza Award from 'The Toe'
himself, Allison credited his snapper and holder and the entire Tiger
special teams unit. 'Out of the 57 snaps during the season,' Allison
said, 'I was the only one who made a mistake. Chad (Williams) did not
have a bad snap, Andy (McWilliams) did not have a bad hold, but I missed
two field goals. I couldn't have done it without their help'." - Tigers